Video: Humanoid Driver Prepares for Robotaxi Era

Japanese researchers have shared video of Musashi, a humanoid robot, seated in the driver’s position of an electric micro-car, exploring potential advancements in autonomous vehicle technology.

Today’s drive for autonomous vehicles largely mirrors this approach, integrating technologies like LiDAR, vision cameras, GPS, sophisticated algorithms, and control systems across the Johnny Cab to navigate urban environments and beyond with safety.

That’s the gist, although real-world implementation has seen a mix of successes and notable failures. What if cars didn’t require all this advanced technology to navigate without a human driver? That’s the direction University of Tokyo researchers, alongside Musashi, are exploring.

A Humanoid Robot Emulating Musculoskeletal Systems

Musashi, a ‘musculoskeletal humanoid‘ developed by the research team in 2019 for studying control systems, mimics human proportions and incorporates a joint and muscle structure inspired by the human body.

The robot is now involved in an autonomous driving project led by the Jouhou System Kougaku Lab, where researchers are training it to drive much like humans do, with varying levels of success, as demonstrated in the accompanying video.

Musashi’s head houses high-resolution vision cameras in each movable eye, capable of panning and tilting to capture various perspectives—such as forward-facing views or quick checks of side mirrors.

Its articulated arms, equipped with five-fingered hands, manipulate the steering wheel based on input from learning software and sensor data. These hands can also engage the handbrake, turn an ignition key, and operate turn signals. Additionally, its feet, designed for traction, press down on brake and accelerator pedals as required.

Humanoid Occupies Driver’s Seat of Toyota’s COMS Electric Micro-Car

The humanoid occupies the driver’s seat of a commercial version of a single-seat electric micro-car called the COMS (Chotto Odekake Machimade Suisui), introduced by Toyota in 2012.

However, the researchers outfitted the vehicle with a Wi-Fi router and an Intel NUC PC to operate the recognition module and servo power supply. They anticipate integrating these components into future humanoid designs.

The real-world driving tests took place at the University of Tokyo’s Kashiwa Campus, where Musashi applied the brakes upon detecting humans or hearing a car horn, and responded to traffic lights.

However, there were challenges: the software lacked training to handle inclines, making it difficult to maintain a steady crawl uphill, and turning corners took minutes rather than seconds.

Despite these hurdles, it’s still early days for humanoid-driven autonomous vehicles.

Assuming development progresses, potential advantages of this approach over traditional autonomous vehicles could include not needing to modify the vehicle itself and allowing the robot driver to perform other tasks between trips, such as carrying groceries or assisting around the house.

Researchers also suggest that the sensor-equipped robot could serve as a crash test dummy for car manufacturers.

Read the original article on: New Atlas

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